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Why This Works: Color Harmony Through Secondary Triad

– Jeanne Mackenzie reporting – In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and points out why they succeed as painted images. This week, Peggy Trigg’s “High Water.”

What a fun, colorful painting. The artist has taken the stark contrasts of the topography and pushed the envelope with color. The direction of brushstrokes gives the lay of the land and the flow of the water, keeping you moving around the painting. The color scheme is a good example of the successful secondary triad — green, violet, orange. They all have hues in common, so as vibrant and eclectic as the color scheme may be, it is a harmonious palette.

High Water 24" x 18" on panel

Conversations, oil, 12 x 16

Portfolio | New Mexico Magic

Growing up on cattle ranches in northern New Mexico, Peggy Trigg developed a profound appreciation for the natural world. “Being raised on a ranch tied me to the land, so I’ve always loved nature and being outside,” she says, adding, “I’ve also always enjoyed being creative.”

It makes sense, then, that she eventually combined her passions to become a landscape painter. Today the artist lives in the rural town of Questa, north of Taos, where she is surrounded by inspiring subject matter, including the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument and Carson National Forest.

While “the quiet and peacefulness of the country” inspires her, she also relates to the harsher side of nature. “As a rancher’s daughter, I was always praying for rain,” she says. “But we can’t control Mother Nature, so we have to just adapt and learn to appreciate its mystique.” Striking that compelling balance of an environment that is both peaceful and turbulent, picturesque and rugged, is something Trigg continuously aims for in her work. “I’m always trying to express the intensity, beauty, and harshness of the New Mexico landscape,” she says.

Yet Trigg’s artistic expressions are rooted in much more than her love of the subject matter itself. “I enjoy exploring contrast, color relationships, and texture—and I’m always trying to look at things in different ways,” she says. Her goal is to convey the essence of a scene, rather than an exact representation. “I want viewers to not only see the beauty of the place, but to actually feel it.” Find Trigg’s work at La Mesa, Santa Fe, NM; Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos, NM; Weyrich Gallery, Albuquerque, NM; Tracy Miller Gallery, Manitou Springs, CO; and Métier Studio Gallery, Dixon, NM.

Taos News Article

Peggy Trigg shares love of the natural world through art

Painting how the land feels

The mesas, the mountains, the streams, the cottonwoods and the fields of silver sage are the reasons Peggy Trigg paints. She paints to share this love of the natural world.

Trigg combines energies in her life and in her work, which might be considered contradictory, but which she has found to be complimentary: landscapes and abstracts; fine artist and high school teacher.